PE resin prices rise 5 cents in Jan

AKRON, OHIO — A 5-cent North American polyethylene price hike is featured in this week's Material Insights video.

The nickel increase is the result of heavy export sales and some domestic pre-buying that hit the market in December. Several unplanned outages at plants making ethylene feedstock also impacted the PE market. North American PE makers now are working on a 4-cent increase set for Feb. 1.

A PET resin expansion from Selenis Canada Inc. also is featured in this week's video. The firm announced plans to add about 250 million pounds of annual capacity at its plant in Montreal East, Quebec. The expansion should be completed in early 2014, giving the plant annual PET capacity of just over 570 million pounds.

The video wraps up with news of Advanced Composites Inc. increasing the size of its polypropylene compounding expansion at its plant in Sidney, Ohio. A previously announced 60 million pound expansion in annual capacity now will total 90 million pounds. Officials said the increase is needed because of the strong rebound in the North American auto market. ACI is a joint venture between Mitsui Chemicals, Prime Polymer and other investors.